By the time the NBA’s All-Star break usually rolls around, the standings are more or less set. It’s typically obvious which four or so teams will be contending for a championship, and it’s also apparent who will be spending the rest of the year in the toilet, tanking for superior lottery odds and draft positioning. As…

Kristaps Porzingis left tonight’s game against the Bucks in the second quarter after suffering an apparent knee injury while dunking on Giannis Antetokounmpo. He was helped off the court by teammates, clearly not putting much weight on his left leg after spending some time in visible pain under the basket:

To the very long and constantly growing list of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s skills, please add “Knick-killer.” Last year, in three games, he averaged 28.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 3.7 blocks. (Terrifyingly, this year these are starting to look like normal Giannis numbers against even competent…

Hey, remember Jared Dudley? The doughy swingman who makes the analytics crowd swoon with his sparkling net rating history? Unbelievably, the 32-year-old Dudley is still kicking around the NBA, as a seldom-used bench gnome for the doomed and hopeless and endlessly depressing Phoenix Suns, the Western Conference’s most…

Before his fourth ejection of the season, Kevin Durant notched a nice block in the Warriors’ 123-111 win over the Knicks. Or did he? Courtney Lee’s floater sure seemed to be on the way down. After Steph drilled a three in transition, coach Jeff Hornacek offered his nuanced take on the ball’s trajectory.

The NBA continues to be cranky as hell. Last night Kevin Durant got ejected again, for the fourth time this season, late in the Warriors’ 123-112 win over the Knicks. Then in his post-match presser, he called out referee James Williams by name for targeting him.

In the opening minutes of today’s Knicks-Pelicans tilt DeMarcus Cousins found himself in an awkward spot, loading up a pass to teammate Anthony Davis just as Davis shifted inside, and as defenders Enes Kanter and Kristaps Porzingis closed in to deny the action. Sunday afternoon basketball is sometime sleepy,…

A lingering sore spot for your New York Knicks, who’ve spent most of the last month sucking and losing, is point guard: Frank Ntilikina might one day be the answer at the NBA’s most important position, but right now he’s a wildly inefficient offensive player playing backup minutes behind, of all people, Jarrett Jack.…

Remember the end of the last Knicks season, when Phil Jackson, having totally alienated and depressed the trade value of Carmelo Anthony, hinted that he might go full demon and undo the only good thing he’d ever done, drafting Kristaps Porzingis? Remember when he reportedly wanted to dangle him for a shot to draft…

The middle part of the Eastern Conference is a muddy mess, right now. Whether there are any actual Good teams below the Cavs in the standings is an open question. Maybe the Wizards are turning it on? Maybe the Sixers will rise? Certainly early optimism about a deep field of bonafide playoff teams is looking sillier,…

A game in which Kristaps Porzingis went 0-for-11 from the field and no starter scored more than 14 points sounds like it should’ve been a surefire loss for the Knicks. But even though that’s exactly what happened against the Celtics tonight, this one was a win—thanks to Michael Beasley, pretty much singlehandedly.

Over at ESPN, Ian Begley has chronicled the festering relationship between former Knicks boss and unbearable weed pedant Phil Jackson and former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony. It’s a long string of satisfying anecdotes but my favorite one captures the purest essence of both characters:

The Oklahoma City Thunder narrowly topped the Philadelphia 76ers in an insane triple-overtime slugfest Friday night. You can imagine, they were therefore not at their most energetic Saturday night, playing the second leg of a back-to-back, in New York. Still, the Knicks, without Kristaps Porzingis, seem like the kind…

Kristaps Porzingis removed himself from last night’s 111-104 win over the Nets after a non-contact injury to his left knee. He tweaked it once in the first half and then left the game in the third quarter after re-aggravating it on this play.